Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Navi Mumbai, Jan 29: Bringing closure to a case that has stretched over eight years, an additional district and sessions court in Belapur on Tuesday convicted a 46-year-old man in connection with a double murder registered at Sanpada police station, sentencing him to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1,000.

As per the order pronounced by Magistrate P.A. Sane, failure to pay the fine would result in an additional six months’ imprisonment.

Senior Inspector Devidas Kathale of Sanpada police said the convict, Prabhakar Dhotre, was found guilty of killing his two friends — Sandeep Gaikwad and Sameer Shaikh — by crushing their heads with heavy objects beneath the Turbhe flyover on the Thane–Belapur Road on July 27, 2017.

Police said Dhotre was arrested within seven hours of the crime. During interrogation, he claimed that the two victims had been repeatedly harassing him for money and would forcibly take Rs 20,000 from him to purchase alcohol and drugs.

According to the prosecution, the incident occurred around 2 am, when Dhotre was sleeping under the flyover. Gaikwad and Shaikh allegedly arrived in an intoxicated state and woke him, pressuring him to join them in consuming a banned substance. Enraged by the confrontation, Dhotre allegedly picked up a large stone and a paver block and attacked both men, killing them on the spot.

During the trial, the prosecution produced 30 documentary exhibits and 13 pieces of circumstantial evidence, and the court recorded the testimony of 13 witnesses before delivering the verdict.

The conviction marks the end of a prolonged legal process in one of the more brutal double murder cases reported from Navi Mumbai in recent years.